Torchwood: Equestria- Parallel Loose Ends

Galaxy O, Sector 5
46th Century

“Jump complete, beginning standard orbit around... hold on...” Nicole double checked her readings, to be sure she wasn't mistaken. “We're at the wrong planet.”

“What?” Ruby looked down at the screens, then out the window. Something was wrong. She'd never seen this planet before, but felt strange when she looked at it. Anxiety filled her, and she couldn't think of why. Something she couldn't explain or describe felt familiar, and this unknown familiarity scared her.

She shook her head after staring at the planet for several seconds, turning her attention back to the issue. “Are you sure you entered the proper coordinates?”

“I double checked before launching,” Nicole replied. “There's no way they were wrong. I'm running a diagnostic to try and find the problem.”

Ruby turned on the com again, speaking to engineering. “Rufus,” she began. “Anything strange happen down in engineering during the jump?”

“No, Captain, everything's fine down here. Something wrong?” the stallion replied.

“We're trying to find out,” Ruby said, then closed the com.

“After scanning for errors, apparently the system was hacked to bring us here,” Nicole explained. “But there's no way any computer on the planet could've hacked us before the jump, we were way too far out. That means...”

Ruby's eyes widened as Nicole's voice trailed off. “Somepony hacked us from inside the ship.”

“Sensor history shows no ships were in range of us before the jump, somepony actually here is the only other possibility.”

“Scan for life signs on board. Now.” Ruby rushed to the other side of the cockpit and pulled open a drawer. Using her magic, she lifted a laser pistol out, checking that it was in good condition and switching the device to fire mode.

“There's one more living thing on board than there should be. Sensors picking up a pony in our second cargo bay.”

“Watch every sensor you can, don't let this crazy pony hack anything else on our ship.” Nicole nodded in response, and Ruby rushed down the hall, her magic holding the pistol in front of her.

**

The red unicorn slowed and quieted her steps the closer she came to the large cargo bay doors. She took a deep breath, then raised a hoof and pushed the entry button. These automatic doors never opened quietly. Whoever hid in this room now knew somepony was after them.

Because of this, Ruby kept herself completely alert. Her laser pistol followed her eyes; wherever she looked, it pointed, ready to let loose at any moment.

“Hey there,” a voice called out. Ruby turned in a flash, but saw nothing, only crates. The voice belonged to a male, a charming voice, at least if the circumstances had been different. To her, the voice belonged to a lethal threat.

“What the hell are you doing on my ship?” Ruby called out. Boxes and crates were stacked everywhere in the cargo bay, providing many places to hide. She moved around one step at a time, checking every possible angle of attack before advancing forward.

“To be honest, I barely understand why,” the voice replied. “But our dreams can answer the question.”

“That doesn't answer why you hacked my ship,” Ruby said, grinding her teeth. “Let's skip the games, shall we?”

“Come on, we're just meeting, lets chat a bit before we start a date,” the stallion joked.

Ruby found no part of this amusing. She kept her steps quiet but hurried her pace, weaving through the cargo bay in search of this pony. At last, she came around a corner, and discovered him sitting on the ground, messing with something on his hoof. The stallion was a dark blue, with an even darker blue mane and tale. He was clearly a full grown adult, but curiously, he showed no sign of a cutie mark. She couldn't make out the exact details of the device, but she guessed it had something to do with teleportation. He was about to escape.

“Don't like the small talk? Alright, guess I'll just be going.”

“No you don't!”

Ruby pushed off with her hind legs, bolting down the cargo bay while the stallion set in coordinates. She leaped out to tackle him, but did so just barely too late. The stallion teleported, and due to her proximity, Ruby went with him.

**

Earth
Canterlot
21st Century

In a blinding flash of light, two ponies appeared out of thin air, toppling through a back alley in the streets of Canterlot. Ruby felt dizzy, struggling to get her grip back on reality as her surroundings spun before her eyes. A cool breeze brushed against her mane, and fresh, unfiltered air filled her lungs. The culprit must have teleported to the planet below. She was certainly not in space anymore.

Her senses returned a moment too late, for the stallion she tackled recovered before she did. Though he couldn't hold it as easily as her, no magic to levitate the laser pistol in front of him, he demonstrated his firearms knowledge by properly holding her weapon between his front hooves. The two sat across from each other, and Ruby wondered at how to get her weapon back, by magic or physical force, without taking a blast to the head.

“Don't move a muscle,” the blue stallion ordered.

“Interesting. You were flirting with me just a bit ago,” Ruby retorted.

“Times change, you decided to make a mess of my escape,” he said. “My job was done, I was ready to go home, but here you are, in the way of my perfect-”

A loud blast halted the conversation as a quick pulse of energy zoomed just shy of the blue stallion's face, leaving a scorched patch on the wall of the building behind him. Ruby looked up to find a young, grey pegasus on the roof, a laser pistol similar to hers trained right on the pony who hacked her ship.

The earth pony raised his pistol in response, firing off several blasts and forcing the pegasus back behind cover. Ruby trained hard to achieve the rank she held. She wasted no time and took her chance to leap at the earth pony, ramming him into the wall and knocking her laser pistol out of his hooves.

He struggled to push her off, but Ruby held fast. Before he could make any moves, the pegasus flew down from the roof. He pointed his weapon so close to the stallion's head, this time a shot would certainly not hit the wall.

“Stand down,” the grey pegasus commanded.

Ruby caught his smile too late. The blue stallion kicked out a hind leg and tripped the pegasus, then in a sudden peak of strength, shoved Ruby off of him. As she regained her balance, the pony took off down the alley in a full on sprint. She heard the grey pegasus shout from behind her.

“Cazan, now!”

Hidden on the roof until now, a brown griffon dove down into the alley and slammed all of his weight onto the escaping pony, pinning him to the ground. Whoever these two were, Ruby thought they planned to capture this mysterious stallion, until the griffon grabbed his head with both claws and snapped his neck.

No more struggle to give, the blue pony went limp underneath the griffon, and the ruckus in the back alley turned to silence. Once sure the stallion lay dead beneath him, the griffon turned around and approached Ruby. She greeted him with her retrieved laser pistol.

“What the hell is going on?” Ruby said. She glanced behind her now and then to keep an eye on the pegasus. She had no clue yet whether these two just saved her or put her in more trouble.

“It's alright, we're special agents with EUIC,” the griffon explained. “My name's Cazan. What are you, lieutenant? Commander?”

“Captain,” Ruby shot back. “Now prove what you just said.”

“Before you ended up here, you discovered that stallion on board your ship. He's working for the tembars, who've shown signs of discomfort with our treaty. They've started staging small attacks against us, and before we could get a lock on this stallion's location, your ship fell victim to an attack.”

Everything Cazan said added up. She knew of the uneasiness between the Equestrian Union and the tembars, and he knew things he couldn't have, unless he killed an accomplice just to gain her trust. That seemed unlikely. Neither Cazan nor the pegasus moved to hurt her, so she lowered her weapon.

“You must come with me, we have a place for you to stay until we can reunite you with your ship,” Cazan told her. “My partner will take care of the body, we should move quickly.”

Ruby nodded, and followed him towards the end of the alley. She admired the griffon's quick action, and calm attitude when she threatened him. She'd never met a griffon, though she knew that many made fine officers in the EUIC. “Do you have a teleportation device? The Wanderer should still be in orbit. Or a shuttle-”

Her words ceased when she stepped out of the alley, onto a paved Canterlot road. Ponies wearing ancient, metal armor calmed and routed citizens away from the alley, who panicked when the sounds of laser blasts interrupted the peaceful day. Their armor proved less confusing than the buildings made out of brick, wood, and other materials she failed to recognize. She found herself in a massive, outdoor museum of unbelievably old architecture.

“Where the hell are we?”

Cazan nodded in understanding to Ruby's confusion. “I'm afraid that stallion's teleportation device is more complicated than you're aware of. You're nowhere near the Wanderer or your crew. We can't speak here, I'll explain soon.”

**

Wing fought every instinct to vomit, or run away, as he dragged Jack's lifeless body deeper into the alley, disappearing from view. Safely hidden in the buildings' shadows, Wing set Jack back down, and waited.

He didn't know how, but Princess Luna was right. Somehow, everyone she brought to the castle shared some connection that they all forgot. Last night, in their dreams, Luna asked each of them to give her something to say, something to prove that she deserved their trust. The next morning, she repeated what each of them gave her. None of this made sense, but somehow, Wing told Luna just the right words, and now he trusted everything.

Watching Cazan kill Jack, however, sent an icy chill down his spine. He felt terrified and ill at the same time, waiting for the supposed miracle to occur. With all their memories gone, Jack, Wing, and Cazan, were forced to trust the plan Luna relayed to them. The plan came from their own mouths while they all slept.

Part of that plan was quickly earning Ruby's trust once she arrived back in time, and this was it. How could someone die, and just come back to life? Not even the royal sisters could bring back the dead. But when Luna relayed the plan, Jack didn't bat an eye. When confronted, he told them the plan was sound.

Apparently, in the dream, the three decided that Cazan would kill Jack, not Wing. Wing wondered why he'd denied playing out this part. Granted, he had enough trouble watching Cazan kill Jack, and Cazan's claws could snap a neck easier than hooves. But a feeling, something Wing couldn't explain, gave him the thought that he denied for some other reason. Something far in the back of his head, unreachable by his conscious, made him deny helping with that part of the plan.

Wing jumped at the sound of a gasp for air, and looked down at his hooves in disbelief. As planned, from death, Jack returned, inhaling through his once broken neck, now perfectly fine.

Jack looked up at Wing, calming down once his life returned to him. “Did it work?” he asked quietly, rolling onto his hooves to stand up.

“She... trusts us...” Wing replied, slowly, staring with a mix of fear and curiosity. “Jack... how...”

“Too long of a story to tell,” Jack told him. “Let's get back to the castle.”

**

“You could have let them capture you! That would have gained my trust just as easily!”

Ruby stared daggers at Jack, and he just laughed. “I needed them to trust you immediately! Didn't want to take the chance.”

That evening, Ruby was forced to come to terms with separation from her krewe, not only by space, but by time. She wandered a castle long forgotten from her species' past, wondering if she could ever return home.

Then, after falling asleep, with everyone in one place once more, she found her memories, as well as her friends, waiting for her in her dreams. Luna's power united them, and once more Torchwood stood together, ready to face whatever threats came their way.

Like the previous night, the members of Torchwood sat in a barren room with Princess Luna. Though the princess could create anything for this room with her mind, the nature of this meeting required no flare or decoration. A black carpet blanketed the floor, and bare, white walls surrounded them.

“We don't have much time,” Luna interjected. The room grew quiet, and everyone realized the Joy of their reunion would be short lived. Now, together again, Torchwood stood a fighting chance at taking out Ayumu. However, every second they waited, the universe grew closer and closer to falling out of existence.

Wing looked at Jack, and he held in the tears he wanted to shed. It pained his heart to know that while awake, he looked at Jack with confusion, no knowledge of who he was, how much he'd done for him, how much he loved him. Since they met that night that felt so long ago now, Wing grew more and more attached to the strange, blue stallion with no cutie mark. But if things happened the way Luna predicted, if they defeated Ayumu, then once again, time would reset. Jack would be back in his own world. Right now, all Wing wanted to do was run away with Jack, fight for Earth together, forget about everything else. He wanted to spend the rest of his days in the embrace of Jack's hooves.

But now, if time reset, Jack would be back in his own universe. He'd have to make the decision to come back again. Wing knew what he wanted, but he struggled to decide if he should want it.

“Luna...” Wing broke the silence. “After all this, if we succeed, and time resets itself... will we remember anything? Torchwood, all we did? Or will all this just be in our dreams?”

“I cannot say for certain,” Luna replied. “When it comes to time travel, if there is a major reset in time, you must be in the 'eye of the storm', as it were. You must be at the heart of the event that reset time, or you will not remember.”

“The Doctor was wrong,” Jack said. “So it's not based on experience with time travel. I remember Chaos because I was in the TARDIS when we beat him. Ruby only met the Doctor, so she forgot.”

“Precisely,” Luna confirmed.

“If I remember, I'm so going to tell the Doctor that he was wrong, I love how fuming he gets.”

“As I said, for this, I am not certain,” Luna went on. “When the realm of dreams get involved, things get... complicated. Not even I, a master in the dream realm, can comprehend it. My sister has forgotten the Doctor's deeds, she will only remember if you remove Ayumu from this timeline. From my experience, memory varies from pony to pony. After a key turning point in the dream realm, some remember, some don't.”

“So what do we have to do?” Cazan asked.

“Because Ayumu is exerting his power in the dream realm, I can feel his presence,” Luna explained. “I know where he is. I can't hold my conscious presence here and fight him, and he will have trouble doing the same. Just fighting him will weaken his magical grip. Killing him will reset all, once again locking Chaos away in the void.”

Jack was afraid. Not for himself, but for the ones around him. He'd started this team, but never did they have to face such a universal threat. He took comfort knowing that if any died yet they succeeded, time would reset, they'd still live. If they failed, all would perish. “Then let's hop to it,” Jack said.

“Remember,” Luna had one last thing to say, before sending Torchwood away. “You are in a dream. Reality is not your limit, your mind is. Now-”

For a moment, the room they sat in shook violently. Wing lost his balance, Ruby staggered against the wall. “Did you do that?”

“No,” Luna replied, distraught. “Something is happening in the real world, my mind instinctively made the room shake to match. We can't wake, we must trust that my sister can handle what is happening. Ready yourselves. I must send you after Ayumu, now.”

**

Celestia stood upon one of her castle's balconies, staring up into the sky. Out in space, what must be just a short distance from their planet, a long, thin blue line, a sort of electric cloud, appeared in the night sky. The line spread out to form an oval, and within that oval rested more than just darkness. The void, the gap between universes, the eternal emptiness between all of reality.

And soon, everything would be lost inside.